The Newsletter of the British Potato Trade Association

Welcome ...

… to this the first issue of my

Presidency of Potato Trade

Topics — the irregular

e-newsletter for members of

the British Potato Trade

Association!

It is an honour and privilege

to serve as President of BPTA

for the next 2 years. I want

to mark my Presidency with

greater collaboration be-

tween the various potato

representative organisations

in the UK.

We have common ground

on just about every chal-

lenge and opportunity faced

by the UK potato industry

and the effect of working

together, harnessing our

respective strengths, is

greater than the sum of our

individual efforts.

An article on progress with

this key initiative follows

below.

Your feedback on this and

on any other issue of inter-

est to you would be most

welcome. I hope you find

something of relevance to

you in this issue of

Potato Trade Topics. Please

December 2015

Starch Wars: The Tattie Awakens

2

John Marshall - and The Haigh Trophy

2

Who’s new on Council

3

BPTA Education & Entertainment - a Fresh Approach

3

Inside this issue:

Forty years ago the Scottish

Potato Trade Association,

one of the BPTA’s parent

body, organized a visit to

Germany.

The Group was photo-

graphed by Jamie Grant a

retired member of SPTA

and BPTA.

Can you name those that

feature in the photograph?

Answers can be found in

column 3 on page 2. No

cheating please!

contact the BPTA Secretariat

with your thoughts.

with your thoughts..

How many faces do you recognize?

Highlights:

Weel kent faces?

May the Force be with Bud

New chairs for Miriam and

David

Ice Ice Maybe?

Tuber burials!

Potato Trade Topics

Russ Kelsey

BPTA President

… to this Festive issue of

Potato Trade Topics — the

irregular e-newsletter for

members of the British

Potato Trade Association!

As we stand on the thresh-

old of another year we, as

an industry, face enormous

challenges not least the de-

pressed potato consumption

situation. It is therefore

heartening to see that

AHDB Potatoes here in

Britain and Europatat on the

continent are planning

important actions in an

attempt to redress matters.

Of lesser import but still of

interest is the fresh ap-

proach that your Association

is taking to re-engage with

the membership on our

Education and Entertain-

ment activities. These events

are important networking

opportunities and arguably

are the glue that keeps the

fabric of the Association

together.

I am delighted that we have

2 new and vibrant Council

members in the chairs of the

Ware and the Education &

Entertainment Committees

to help us tackle these

issues.

Your views on these and on

any other issues of interest

to you would be most wel-

come. I hope you find some-

thing of relevance to you in

this issue of Potato Trade

Topics. Please contact the

BPTA Secretariat with your

thoughts.

As we enter 2016 and a possible refer-

endum on whether the UK should exit

the EU, we find uncommon unity with

our European brethern. We are all

suffering from the impact of falling

consumption of potatoes. And we are

united in making strenuous efforts to

arrest this decline.

BPTA Council at its February 2014 meet-

ing expressed concern about a dramatic

collapse in potato consumption and

later wrote to AHDB Potatoes, whose

remit it is to promote potatoes in this

country, to seek promotional activity

and R&D focus on the health benefits of

potato consumption.

AHDB Potatoes in partnership with

Bord Bia in Ireland launched in October

2015 a three-year, €3.6m EU co-

financed joint venture campaign with

the aim to change consumer attitudes

towards potatoes being “More than a

Bit on the Side”. The programme intro-

duced us to “Bud” a cool-looking potato

dude and is designed to inform and

educate consumers by demonstrating

that potatoes are nutritious, convenient

and versatile and can be used in innova-

tive ways suitable for a busy, modern

lifestyle.

Europatat has also been proactive. The

consumption conundrum featured

heavily at the Congress in Düsseldorf in

May 2015 including a presentation on

how Opel cars turned around negative

consumer perceptions. More practicably

Europatat established a Working Group

on Potato Promotion and is exploring

the possibility of applying for EU fund-

ing under the promotion of agricultural

products legislation for a multi national

programme.

In the Starch Wars the Tattie Awakens!

The fight back has begun in earnest!

But none of us can afford to be compla-

cent. It is incumbent on all who love

potatoes to do everything we can to

correct the misinformation that

abounds about our wonderful, nutri-

tious and incredibly versatile product.

Please do what you can to share the

good news about potatoes on your

websites, communications, social media,

etc - link

Starch Wars: The Tattie Awakens

John Marshall - and The Haigh Trophy 2016

Page 2

BPTA Council is delighted to announce that it has

unamiously decided to award The Haigh Trophy to

John Marshall.

John retired on 1st May 2015 from his position as Seed

Buyer at WCF Horticulture after a long career which

included time as a potato inspector before taking a

supervisory position with the Potato Marketing Board

where he worked for 16 years. He then worked for

Greenvale as a seed potato trader for 11 years.

However that doesn't tell a fraction of his passion for

potatoes. He can now devote even more time to his

celebrated Tattie Talks which he delivers to groups of

all ages, to manning potato stands at shows such as

the Chelsea Flower Show - where he is photographed

(left) and in championing the potato here, there and

everywhere!

John will be presented with The Haigh Trophy at the

Curling Dinner on 26th February 2016.

Bob Doig with

the Haigh Trophy

Bud -“Potatoes: More Than

A Bit On The Side”

BPTA Education & Entertainment - a Fresh Approach

David grew up on a mixed farm in the

heart of the Yorkshire wold where his

company now concentrates its large

operation of seed production. He is

married to Rebecca and they have two

children Jacob (9) and Jessica (7). His

interests include golf, shooting and

gardening, taking over from the hole

left by quitting Cricket and Rugby for

Driffield 5 years ago.

David Burks is the Marketing Director

and one of the founder Shareholder

Members at Whole Crop Marketing

Limited based in the East Riding of York-

shire. He has previously been a senior

potato buyer at E Park & Sons and

before that a potato buyer at MBM

Produce Ltd.

David was co-opted to Council in

October and immediately installed as

Chair of its Ware Committee.

Miriam Doe began her career in the

potato industry as a temporary seed

potato growing crop inspector for the

Scottish Government based in the

Angus area while on summer holidays

from University. Following graduation,

she started full time employment at

Greenvale AP in 2006 as a fieldsperson

and in 2010 she became Seed QC

Manager. In February 2015 Miriam

moved to WCF Horticulture as seed

buyer, purchasing approximately 3000

tonnes for the horticultural market.

When she is not working Miriam enjoys

curling for Dunsinane Curling Club and

training her horse with a view to

entering competitions next year.

Miriam is a Committee member of the

Royal Highland Education Trust – a

charity which promotes food and farm-

ing to school children. She is currently

working on a new potato growing

project for schools within Perth and

Kinross.

Miriam is delighted to have been voted

onto the BPTA Council and to the chair

of its Education and Entertainment

Committee. She hopes to see many

members at the Curling and Dinner on

the 26th February 2016.

Who’s new on Council

Page 3

By any measure the last 12 months or

so have not been vintage for the BPTA’s

Education and Entertainment activities!

Our flagship event the BPTA Annual

Dinner & Dance in November 2014 was

cancelled due to insufficient interest.

Also we had to abandon our plans for

our annual golf tournament in August.

To top that the Chair of the Committee

had to step down from Council because

of redundancy. The results of a mem-

bership survey on our activities was

fairly inconclusive. There was a poor

response rate, but a hard core of enthu-

siasts for each event.

As has been said before, our Education

and Entertainment activities are viewed

as a critical component of our raison

d'être. Under the new leadership of

Miriam Doe the Committee is focussed

upon a new beginning for these activi-

ties.

The first event of the new approach is

an informal dinner on the evening of

Friday, 26th February 2016 in the Hay

Suite at Perth Ice Rink. Proceedings start

at 6.30 for 7pm and Jim Smith has been

engaged to entertain us with his after

dinner repartee. Jim is a local farmer

and part time comedian who sold out

his show at the Edinburgh Festival and

was a finalist at the Scottish Comedian

Miriam Doe

of the Year in 2014. The dinner takes

place following the 2nd leg of the annu-

al BPTA Curling Competition and there

will be an opportunity for non-curlers to

try the sport during the afternoon if

they so wish. More details will follow

soon - get the date in your diary now!

Do you trade under RUCIP (Rules and

Practices of the Inter-European Trade in

Potatoes)? If you think you don’t - are

you certain? If you do - do you know

what your obligations are? If you

answer ‘no’ to either of the last

2 questions you need to consider very

carefully your need for training before

your business finds itself exposed to

serious financial risks.

If there is sufficient demand from

members BPTA will organise a training

event during 2016 to explain the

opportunities and risks of trading under

RUCIP Rules. A trawl of members’

interest will be conducted shortly.

David Burks

was captured by Prussia. In prison he

was fed on potatoes, which at that time

was, throughout most of Europe, con-

sidered as fit for animal feed only. In-

deed at that time French law prohibited

the cultivation of the potato as it was

considered a risk to human health!

On his return to France he pursued an

interest in nutritional chemistry and

remembered his experiences in jail with

potatoes. Due largely to his efforts, the

Paris Faculty of Medicine declared pota-

toes edible in 1772. However there re-

mained resistance which he sought to

Friends of mine were enjoying a roman-

tic break in Paris earlier this year -

thankfully before the terrible events of

recent weeks. During their stay they

wandered into Père Lachaise Cemetery -

burial place of many notables including

Oscar Wilde, Frédéric Chopin, Édith

Piaf, Marcel Proust and Jim Morrison.

They were astonished to come across

a tomb that was festooned with potato

tubers.

It transpired that this is the last resting

place of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier -

the champion of the potato in France.

He is so well regarded in France that

people still bring a potato tuber and

place it on his tomb some 200 years

after his death in 1813!

Apparently his potato journey began

when Parmentier then serving in the

French army during the 7 years war

overcome with a series of publicity

stunts.

The turning point arrived in 1785 when

a poor harvest resulted in the potato

contributing to staving off famine in

northern France. In 1789 Parmentier

published Treatise on the Culture and

Use of the Potato, Sweet Potato, and

Jerusalem Artichoke. During the French

Revolution which began that year pota-

toes became a staple for the populace

at large.

Parmentier survived La Terreur and

died in 1813, aged 76. His legacy is

marked today by several potato dishes

bearing his name such as Hachis

Parmentier which is not unlike cottage

or shepherd's pie, and by casual visitors

to a Paris cemetery having a potato

tuber in their pocket!

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier

Charlie Greenslade

BPTA Secretary

The British Potato Trade Association (BPTA) was created

from the merger of the National Association of Seed

Potato Merchants (NASPM) and the Scottish Potato Trade

Association (SPTA) in July 2006. This union has resulted in

an Association with the widest UK potato industry

representation possible.

The bulk of the tonnage of seed potatoes traded in Great

Britain for both the home and export markets (between

250,000 & 300,000 tonnes annually) is handled by the 120

members of the new Association. This gives the

Association greater negotiating power on behalf of its

members. The BPTA covers all aspects of potato produc-

tion and sales, both at home and for the export trade.

British Potato Trade Association

12 Buckstone Hill

Edinburgh

EH10 6TH

Phone: 0131 623 0183 Fax: 0131 623 5295

E-mail: charlie.greenslade@bpta.org.uk Website: www.bpta.org.uk

Visit and like the BPTA on Facebook

The BPTA Office is open Mon-Thurs between the hours of 8.30am & 1.30pm

The Newsletter of the British Potato Trade Association

Potato Trade Topics

Be Part of The Association

Hello. I am Charlie Greenslade, Secretary of the British Potato Trade Association. If you have any questions about the

Association or your membership then please do not hesitate to contact me at the times and address noted above.

British Potato Trade Association

12 Buckstone Hill

Edinburgh

EH10 6TH

Phone: 0131 623 0183 Fax: 0131 623 5295

E-mail: charlie.greenslade@bpta.org.uk Website: www.bpta.org.uk

Visit and like the BPTA on Facebook

The BPTA Office is open Mon-Thurs between the hours of 8.30am & 1.30pm